Mechanical movement



May 27, 1952 m; 2,598,275

MECHANICAL MOVEMENT Filed May 26, 1950 FIG.3.

INVENTOR. HAROLD LAKIN Patented May 27, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MECHANICAL MOVEMENT Harold Lakin, Bronx, N. Y.

Application May 26, 1950, Serial No. 164,349

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to mechanically operated brushes. In particular it is exemplified by an electrically actuated toothbrush in which the brush rotates, and the primary motivation is provided by an oscillatory motor.

Although mechanically operated toothbrushes have been proposed they have failed to provide the requisite usefulness for the intended purposes. The mechanically actuated toothbrushes heretofore proposed provide only oscillatory mo tion of the full brush head. They thus are lacking in the desirable features and advantages of a rotating brush head which are present in the elaborate equipment of the dentists offices.

Accordingly it is among the principal objects of this invention to provide a mechanically operated brush which may be held in the hand and that affords rotary motion of the brush head.

Another object of this invention is to provide asturdy, compact unit of relatively simple construction that may readily be assembled and disassembled which furnishes rotary motion of the brush head.

In its basic aspects the principal objects of this invention are achieved by a structure in which an oscillatory electric motor, housed within an appropriate casing, is disposed to actuate a reciprocable shaft or piston, housed within a tubular casing, that is connected with a rotatable element to which is attached the shaft of a brush element.

Such objectives and advantages as well as further objects and advantages will become apparent from the more detailed description of this invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, illustrating an embodiment thereof, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a structure showing the outside of the casing containing the mechanical elements and the brush top or head.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1 taken on the line 33 thereof.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the structure, as illustrated in Fig. 3 taken on the line 4-4 thereof.

Fig. 5 is a view, in perspective, of the structure illustrated in the foregoing figures showing the assemblage of the reciprocable piston, the rotatable element actuated thereby, and the brush attached to said element.

In the drawing the numeral l0 designates the casing that houses the oscillatory or vibratory motor, the numeral l2 designates the tubular casing that houses the reciprocable shaft or piston, and the numeral M the head of the rotating brush. Casing I I] may be formed of a pair of appropriately molded shells or sections, such as the top half I6 and the bottom half I8 adapted snugly to receive a vibratory motor 20 set there between. The rear of the casing I0 is provided with an orifice 22 having an appropriate bushing 24 set therein through which the electric supply conduit 25 passes and is adequately sealed. The front of the casing I0 is provided with a longitudinally extending, and if desired tapered, axially disposed, bore 26 adapted to receive the rear portion 28 of the tubular casing l2. It will be noted that the top half [6 of casing in and the rear portion 28 of the tubular casing 12 may be constructed so as to provide for the passage therethrough of a manually movable, vertically disposed pressure exerting element 30 that affords means for securely holding casing l2 within casing Ill.

The rear portion 28 of tubular casing I2 is provided with an axially disposed bore 32 within which the rear end 33 of the reciprocable shaft 34 slides. The forward end of I 2 is provided with a vertically disposed brush holding head 35 having a vertical bore 38, within which is a tubular member 40 adapted to receive the shaft 4| of the brush. The lower end 42 of member 40 is affixed to a horizontally positioned disc or rotor 44. A downwardly extending pin 46, positioned at an appropriate distance from 42, is affixed to disc 44. This pin is engaged by the forward end 41 of reciprocating shaft 34.

It will be observed that upon oscillation of the motor 20 its armature 5|] will be caused to reciprocate, and in such forward movement the armature will drive the shaft 34 thus causing the disc 44 to move. To effectuate the return of the shaft 34 to its initial position and make its movement synchronous with that of the armature 50, a spring 52 is provided, the forward end 54 of which bears against the shoulder 56 formed within l2 and the rear end 51 against the shoulder 58 of 34.

In order to overcome the possible immobilization due to dead centering both at the end of the forward stroke and the rear stroke of shaft 34, there may be provided the following: (1) a spring 60, anchored as at 62, which bears against the lower end 64 of the pin 46; and (2) offsetting of the oppositely disposed sides 66 and 68 of the shoulder 56 from each other. By such oiT-setting, the forward end 54 of spring 52 is 0 disposed at an angle, as a result of which the spring exerts pressure transversely of the shaft 34, thus lifting it out of the dead center at the rear end.

As shown at 10, i2, i4, and T5, the shells I6 and I8 may be united by screws or other appropriate means. If desired, the two shells may be made of plastic, and in such case the two united by heat sealing or the like.

The tubular casing 12 may also be formed of a pair of plastic shells 18 and 80, appropriately united by heat sealing or the like along the line 82.

The armature of the motor may be of relatively short length, and in such case, its forward end 84 may be linked to an auxiliary mem ber 86 which is maintained in contact with the rear end 33 of the piston 34.

The control of the electric current may-be effectuated by an appropriate switch in the conduit 25, or aflixed to the casing w.

A Washer 99 may be positioned between the disc M and the base 52 of the brush holding head to provide proper positioning of the brush and also to prevent the disc from scraping the inner side of the casing.

It will be noted that the brush may be removed from the assembly by withdrawing it from 58 which grips the brush shaft Al.

The motor, as shown, comprises a coil within which is positioned a magnetically responsive plunger or armature. The spring 52 exerts pressure on the piston 34 and thus forces the armature rearwardly thereby closing the switch S whereupon the coil is energized and the armature is pulled into the coil to its forward position. After the spring 52 is compressed, it relaxes causing the piston to return and thereby to drive the armature to the rear so that the switch S is again closed and the cycle repeated.

I claim:

1. In a mechanically operated rotating brush an oscillatory motor, a reciprocable shaft, said shaft being operatively associated with said motor, a rotor, a pin afiixed to said rotor, the said pin being operatively connected to the aforesaid shaft, a spring element bearing against said pin thereby to prevent the shaft from dead centering, and the said rotor being adapted axially to engage the shaft of a brush.

2. In a mechanically operated rotating brush a reciprocable shaft, means to reciprocate said shaft, a rotor, a pin affixed to said rotor, the said pin being operatively connected to said shaft, a housing for said shaft, a coil spring surrounding said shaft, said shaft having rearwardly disposed means to engage one end of said coil spring, said housing having means to engage the other end of said coil spring at an angular disposition thereby to prevent the rearward portion of the shaft from dead centering, a second spring bearing against the aforesaid pin affixed to the rotor thereby to prevent the forward end of the shaft from dead centering, and means to engage the shaft of a brush in operative association on the rotor whereby rotation of the rotor produces rotation of the brush.

3. In a mechanically operated rotating brush an oscillatory motor, a reciprocable shaft, said shaft being operatively associated with said motor, a rotor,a pin affixed to said rotor, the said pin being operatively connected to the aforesaid shaft, a housing for said shaft, said shaft having means that provides an abutment for one end of a helical cone spring surrounding said shaft, said housing having means that provides an abutment for the other end of said spring, said abutment being angularly disposed shoulders which locate the'squared end of the helical cone spring at an angle, thus exerting a transverse force on the reciprocable shaft, eliminating a dead center when the shaft is in the rear position.

HAROLD LAKIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,179,268 Beezley et a1. 1- Apr. 11, 1916 1,291,819 Fogel et al Jan. 21, 1919 2,372,731 Nalboch et al. Apr. 3, 1945 

